The UCI announced Wednesday that the Anti-Doping Tribunal has imposed a four-year suspension on Colombian track sprinter Fabian Puerta Zapata, the 2018 Keirin world champion.

"The Tribunal found the athlete guilty of an anti-doping rule violation (presence of bordenone metabolites) and imposed the sanction of a four-year suspension," the UCI announced.

The case dates back to an out-of-competition anti-doping control conducted on June 11, 2018, in which traces of the anabolic steroid bordenone were detected in Puerta's urine; the UCI notified Puerta of the adverse finding in August 2018.

The substance is a naturally occurring steroid, but is also manufactured under the trade name Equipoise, primarily for use in horses. It has not been approved for human use, but has been abused by athletes and bodybuilders for muscle building. Laboratory tests can distinguish between naturally occurring endogenous and modified (exogenous) forms.

In a 2019 interview with Noticias Caracol, Puerta suggested that the positives came from contaminated meat and said his defense was hampered by the language barrier, lack of funding to fight the ban, and slow response from the UCI.

He said he was depressed by the incident and that only the birth of his son gave him the will to live.

"Even if you are innocent, being accused is one of the worst things in cycling, in sporting life," Puerta said in 2019. 'Everything disappears overnight. I was a world champion and I wore the rainbow jersey.

Puerta is married to track cyclist Juliana Gaviria, sister of UAE Team Emirates sprinter Fernando Gaviria.